Graham council OKs large apartment complex despite objections

Tuesday

May 6, 2014 at 12:01 AMMay 6, 2014 at 11:07 PM

Jay Ashley / Times-News

GRAHAM — The “last regional commercial district” property in Graham will accommodate high-quality residential apartments, the Graham City Council decided by a 4-1 vote Tuesday night after about two hours of comments from developers and neighbors for and against the project.

With council member Lee Kimrey voting against, the council OK’d a request from Lee-Moore Capital Co. for its $21.7 million Watercourse Apartments project. The city rezoned 16.8 acres at 1050 Woody Drive, just off Harden Street (N.C. 54), from general business to a conditional residential zoning to allow for the construction of seven three-story apartment buildings with 204 residential units. The plan also calls for a park area, asphalt trail, pedestrian bridge, swimming pool with cabanas, fitness facility, clubhouse, tot lot and dog park, and 320 parking spaces.

The property, bounded on one side by the eastbound Exit 148 on-ramp on Interstate 40/85, was considered for a major commercial development in 2007, developer John Fugo told the council. When the economic downturn struck, the main anchor store pulled out, leading other planned stores also to drop out.

Fugo ticked off a list of potential retailers he contacted, including Cabela’s, Denny’s, Starbucks, Quiznos, Pep Boys and a host of grocery stores such as Kroger, Lowe’s, Publix, Aldi, Trader Joe’s and Walmart.

“I realized (the retail scene) was not going to go back to the way it was,” he said, as retailer after retailer declined to make a move on the property.

Fugo said the development group turned to the idea of high-end apartments after a previous apartment complex plan was nixed. He said he had backed that plan by David Morton to develop property nearby because he thought it would help him develop his land commercially.

Fugo said he realized there was a need for more upscale housing in Graham, which could attract young professionals as a place to live, yet commute to either the west or east.

Retailers are no longer going for saturation, he said. Before the economic downturn, the Sheetz company was building on any property it could get its hands on, he said. Today, retailers are willing to sit back and “cherry pick” their locations.

MANY OF THE 15 or so citizens who spoke of the Watercourse project admitted they were “impressed” with Fugo’s plan, calling it “first class,” but most said they would prefer a retailer rather than more “rooftops,” as the developers called residential development.

Rents at Watercourse will run from $826 to $1,200 a month, no Section 8 vouchers will be accepted, and tenants will be vetted on a 60-point checklist ranging from financial capabilities to criminal records.

As for revenues, City Manager Frankie Maness compared the per-acre tax revenues of the Tanger Outlet in Mebane to the Watercourse project, saying Tanger stood at a tax valuation of $669,482 per acre, whereas Watercourse would be valued on the tax books at $1.25 million per acre.

Though many citizens complained about potential traffic problems, it was cited that the apartments would generate about 15 percent of the “six or seven times” the amount of traffic retail would produce.

Most citizens spoke to the Graham way of life, enjoying small-town life with a needed boost of commercialism and a revitalized downtown.

Elaine Murrin said she was concerned about “the people who live here and spend their money somewhere else,” and pointed to the transience of renters.

Janice McSherry said she had met with Fugo previously and felt Trader Joe’s, which recently tested the waters unsuccessfuly in Greensboro, could still be lured here.

“If I get the groceries I need, I have to go out of Graham,” she said, noting that along N.C. 54 headed east, it’s “22.6 miles to the next grocery store,” in Carrboro.

“There’s nothing to attract people to come here,” she pointed out.

Other speakers addressed problems with flooding in the area, contending it could get worse with more residential development. Others said the apartments would not contribute to the economy as commercial development would.

IN ADDITION TO warning that rezoning would effectively kill Graham’s only regional commercial development center, council member Kimrey based his “nay” vote on the fact that the property was surrounded by other business zoning, and to change it to residential would be, in essence, spot zoning, which is “unconstitutional.”

However, the other council members were sold on the quality of the project and the uncertainty that business development was in the city’s future. Jim Albright said he felt Fugo had done his “due diligence” in trying to commercially develop the site, and “Chip” Turner said he felt the approval of the project would force DOT’s hand in attending to the continuing flooding problems. Jimmy Linens said no one wanted retail and restaurants as much as he would, but “We have to take this while we can. I think it will help the downtown.”

After Kimrey’s motion to deny the project died for lack of a second, Mayor Jerry Peterman’s motion to approve the rezoning was passed.